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Hmm... be careful not to use that locking feature when 'locking' it to a regular sign post. When I lived in NYC, my roommate's bike was stolen when a thief just
by Jerry2 5y ago
Hmm... be careful not to use that locking feature when 'locking' it to a regular sign post. When I lived in NYC, my roommate's bike was stolen when a thief just removed bolts holding the sign and then he just lifted the whole bicycle and the lock over the post. He then bolted the sign back on. We saw the surveillance video from a neighbor's surveillance camera and the whole thing took under 3 minutes. We initially assumed the lock was defeated but this was a much more ingenious way.
- technotarek 5y agoI believe you may still have a useless bike in the case of this design.
- maxerickson 5y agoDepends on how pickable the lock is at that point.
- mike_d 5y agoYou mean if it doesn't get stolen?
- klyrs 5y agoStolen bikes frequently get tossed onto a truck full of bikes. Even if the frame is a goner, it'll scrap. The rest of the components can be resold / used to patch up another bike.
- teknopaul 5y agoIn Barcelona many "stolen" bikes are actually the council taking them because you are not allowed to park bikes against sign posts. You can get them back. Unless you have one of these bikes. Pity the folk that loose their keys. Some times a crap lock is useful as a deterrent but you don't want to make it hard to get your own bike unlocked by people authorised to do so, including yourself. Cool idea t'ho if your only problem is lazy thieves riding off with your bike. This post is one of a long line of my "more security is not _necessarily_ better security" posts.
- wolverine876 5y agoNothing is impossible to steal; you just want to make it harder.
- Gigachad 5y agoUnfortunately the rate of bike theft is so high that even with the best locks, if its left in view of the public, its going to be stolen.
- froddd 5y agoIn view of the public is substantially better than out of sight to avoid theft.
- newaccount74 5y agoI've had thieves steal components off my bike in broad daylight on a busy street. I think it's best to park your bike in a place where there's not a lot of foot traffic.
- atoav 5y agoMy experience is that locking your bicycle publicly can be good for you – while locking your bike in an unexposed place can be bad. The best place is one: * which is not visible from the street * still has some public traffic (aka "someone could exit the building at any time") * the bikes next to yours are worse protected than yours I am faring quite well with this strategy for 10 years now and haven't had a single bike stolen from me despite using the bike as my main mode of transportation. In the same time my collegues had theirs stolen roughly every 2 years. The worst place is one: * which people pass by alone * which is still somewhat visible from the street * where your bike is the only one there
- Cthulhu_ 5y agoThat's exactly it, most locks (bike or otherwise) are to reduce thefts of opportunity, or to otherwise discourage things. Bike chains and locks and the like can be clipped within seconds with the right tool (you can even get battery-operated hydraulic clippers these days, see e.g. [0]). But if it's noisy or visible, it's discouraging. Anyway, instead of paying a premium for a bizarre frame contraption, buy a cheaper bike with enough lock to discourage a quick snatch. It won't be worth the effort to steal on the one hand, and it'll be cheap to replace on the other. If you get an expensive bike instead, get theft insurance and make sure there will be visible evidence of theft if it gets stolen (e.g. clipped chains or whatever). [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMz89XjRXj0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMz89XjRXj0
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- tzs 5y agoWhy would the thief bolt the sign back on after freeing the bike?
- discordance 5y agoTo ensure that the thief's future suppliers would continue to leave their product attached to the pole?
- hinkley 5y agoI suspect removing safety signs may be seen more gravely than theft of personal property. Putting the sign back means you committed one crime rather than two.
- hatchnyc 5y agoYeah for real, the city might actually try to do something about someone removing signs. Not even joking.
- Scoundreller 5y agoIn my experience, they don’t. But it was just a street-name indicating sign that was removed to make way for a sidewalk cut, tossed aside and never re-mounted. Eventually some scrapper took it I bet.
- JoeAltmaier 5y agoBecause a predator doesn't spoil the trap.
- kazinator 5y ago> He then bolted the sign back on. Amazingly good citizen; if you can just look past the bike stealing behavior.
- crooked-v 5y agoOn the other hand, it might just be looked at as resetting the trap for next time.
- 13of40 5y agoNext move in the arms race: Quick-release sign bolts.
- bredren 5y agoThe punishment and civil liability for removing a traffic control sign is probably a lot greater than stealing a bike.
- cestith 5y agoIn some jurisdictions there is a statutory value of a road sign higher than the actual cost to replace it. It's usually enough to make stealing the sign a serious misdemeanor or minor felony.
- lscdlscd 5y agoAs it should be. A missing stop sign can get someone killed.
- kazinator 5y agoOnly someone who assumes they have the right-of-way through an intersection when they don't see a sign, and can just blow through without looking if anything is coming. Even in stop-sign-happy North America there aren't stop signs everywhere there could be stop signs; every licensed driver must know what to do at an uncontrolled intersection.
- chrismcb 5y agoIsn't that also generally illegal? That is, kicking a bike to a sign post.
- Wowfunhappy 5y agoIt's extremely common in NYC. If it's illegal, it's never enforced.
- eloisant 5y agoStealing bikes is illegal too, but it's never enforced either!
- ahoka 5y agoI have learned that it is called a "sucker pole" in New York.
- em-bee 5y agois there a lock that can prevent this method of theft?
- patates 5y agoYou mean a lock that holds on to an open ended steel stick of random thickness? It could be a nice engineering/design challenge
- em-bee 5y agoyes, exactly. my point is, that this problem is not specific to the unusual lock described in the article, but is really an issue with any lock and therefore not really relevant.
- JoBrad 5y agoYou could use an Earth lock. They securely fasten your bike to the ground using a focused graviton beam. Works anywhere on earth, but requires a beefy frame.
- em-bee 5y agothat's what i am using now, if a dutch bike qualifies. plus a lock through the wheels to prevent the application of kinetic energy by causing a high amount of friction.